Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told CNN that that Bush’s escalation in Iraq is going so well, “General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed humvee.” On Mon, he told radio host Bill Bennett that there “are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today.” This morning, during an interview with McCain, CNN’s John Roberts rebutted McCain’s assertions, stating, “I checked with General Petraeus’s people overnight and they said he never goes out in anything less than an up-armored humvee.” He added that a new report by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey “said no Iraqi government official, coalition soldier, diplomat reporter could walk the streets of Baghdad without heavily armed protection.” Faced with overwhelming evidence that he was wrong, McCain denied he’d ever said it: “Well, I’m not saying they could go without protection. The President goes around America with protection. So, certainly I didn’t say that.” Watch it:... http://thinkprogress.org

Sen. John McCain strolled briefly through an open-air market in Baghdad today in an effort to prove that Americans are “not getting the full picture” of what’s going on in Iraq. NBC’s Nightly News provided further details about McCain’s one-hour guided tour. He was accompanied by “100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.” Still photographs provided by the military to NBC News seemed to show McCain wearing a bulletproof vest during his visit. Watch it: McCain recently claimed that there “are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today.” In a press conference after his Baghdad tour, McCain told a reporter that his visit to the market today was proof that you could indeed “walk freely” in some areas of Baghdad. Video: Go to “read article” then click on the video and watch it...http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/01/mccain-iraq-stroll/

A man and a woman were fatally shot in a University of Washington building on Monday in what police said could be a murder-suicide. Police said a handgun was found that may have belonged to one of the dead people. "It's quite possible that the suspect is one of the deceased," said University Assistant Police Chief Ray Wittmier said. He said about six shots were fired and that the only people apparently involved in the shootings were the two dead, a woman in her mid-20s and a man in his 40s. There were no eyewitnesses, he said. A UW graduate student told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News that the woman who was shot may have been an instructor whose ex-boyfriend was barred from seeing her by a restraining order. A picture of the ex-boyfriend was distributed to staff, who were instructed to call police if they saw him....http://www.kirotv.com/news/11494484/detail.html?treets=sea&tid=2653833995813&tml=sea_break&tmi=sea_break_1_11530304022007&ts=H

Republican Mitt Romney reported raising $23 million for his presidential campaign during the first three months of the year, shaking up the GOP field and rivaling the total reported a day earlier by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton. Meanwhile, the Republican front-runner in the polls, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said his donations totaled $15 million - including more than $10 million raised during March alone. Both Republican numbers blew away past party presidential fundraising standards, while Romney's figure put the former Massachusetts governor in competition with Clinton, the Democratic front-runner. The New York senator on Sunday reported raising $26 million between Jan. 1 and March 31. We keep giving money to those we know are corrupted and wonder why nothing changes. We do have honest candidates but for some reason we don’t support them. Ron Paul is one of them, but they keep trying to keep him out, and we ignore him. Why??? ...http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6527264,00.html

For just the second time since the war began, the Army is sending large units back to Iraq without giving them at least one year of rest at home between deployments, officials said Monday. The move signaled just how stretched the U.S. fighting force has become. A combat brigade from New York and a Texas headquarters unit will return to Iraq this summer in order to maintain through August the military build-up President Bush announced earlier this year. Overall the Pentagon announced that 7,000 troops will be deploying to Iraq in the coming months, as part of the effort to keep 20 brigades in the country to help bolster the ongoing Baghdad security plan. A brigade is roughly 3,000 soldiers. ``Obviously right now the Army is stretched, and we will make every effort possible not to break their dwell time,'' said a senior Army official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. ``But in this case we had to.'' ...http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6527139,00.html

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign team announced yesterday she had raised a record $26m in the first three months of this year. Given the size and experience of her campaign team, it seems likely that she will have outstripped all other candidates, either Democratic or Republicans, in terms of funding. Ability to raise funds is a vital part of the US electoral process. Ms Clinton may be hoping that this demonstration of her fundraising ability will dent the ambitions of her nearest rival, Barack Obama. That this creature has any support from anybody, shows that the majority of people can be fooled time after time. Both Parties shove their Hacks down our gullets and we swallow it hook line and sinker. Why are we so damn stupid? Have we lost all our marbles? Don’t we ever learn? Come on folks, start using your brains and think what you are doing to this country. Don’t support them, get rid of them...http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections08/story/0,,2048188,00.html